to all developers who hire or knows the game

[william chaple]

Hello guys, again!

Well, I am actually an IT major, but as well all know, IT is very very broad. In my school, we do networks, do applications, to web development, to back-end

I actually read an article that landing an entry level developer job is very difficult coming out of college since most college grads do not posses the skills

So, based on the article I read, what do you guys recommend a developer to learn in order to land an entry level developing job or some kind of developer assistance?

As for me, I am focusing on a full stack type of developmet; ranging from PHP, mySQL, Javascript, HTML5, CSS3, and fluent in Java OO programming

but ive heard most entry need to learn some kind of framework, ect. I still have about a year left, but I am focusing ahead and also learning languages for fun.

[Ulf Dittmer]

Start by getting the fundamentals right before learning any particular framework; if you're conversant in all the technologies you mention you'll have a head start. If you're thinking of getting into Java development I advise to learn JDBC (for DB access) and servlets/JSP (for web apps). For the latter, pick up a book like Head First Servlets and JSP, as that's a big field.

[Syed Islam]

Once you have some front end knowledge: HTML, CSS and JavaScript

... and some back end knowledge: JSP, Servlets, Tomcat, MySQL and JDBC.

What would you say is the next logical step? Unit testing, version control?

[william chaple]

awesome thanks for the reply guys

Well I was wondering if its worth learning servlets and JSP since I am getting into PHP. I know a little JSP and servlets. I know java is in demand, but is JSP still being used for entry level positions? I know JSP's can land you a very good job if I am lets say a senior JSP developer for a major company, but I am far from that

Anyhow,

What is JDBC though? and the difference in Java web development vs a full stack PHP/mySQL developer? what should I honestly focus on as a college grad (soon to be) for entry level / assistant?

[Ulf Dittmer]

william chaple wrote:since I am getting into PHP

In that case you might get better advice on a more PHP-oriented web site :-) Here the assumption is naturally that you're interested in Java development.

if I am lets say a senior JSP developer for a major company

Right, straight out of school you won't be a senior developer. But a junior web developer would use it, too.

[chris webster]

william chaple wrote:What is JDBC though?

JDBC is a standard API for communication between Java and relational (SQL) databases.

If you're doing any kind of SQL database interaction in your Java application, you're going to be using JDBC at some level, although it may be hidden behind intermediary layers e.g. an object-relational mapper (ORM). Each relational database vendor - and all open-source RDBMS I've seen, including MySQL - will provide a JDBC library (as a JAR file) which implements the API for their database. On the Java side, you can code to the standard JDBC API without having to worry about which particular RDBMS is being used to store/query your data underneath. Well, that's the theory. In practice, there can be variations in the functionality supported by different JDBC libraries (and versions) or different databases and so on.

One thing to bear in mind if you're doing anything with databases, even if it's just via an ORM, is that you should have some understanding of how databases actually work - how to model and query data properly in a relational database - in order to make best use of these tools from Java. The JDBC API gives you more than enough rope to hang yourself with if you want to do stupid things, as your JDBC requests are just strings of SQL, so it's up to you to learn enough SQL to use it properly. It's like driving a car - you don't need to understand the detailed workings of the internal combustion engine, transmission, ABS brakes, electronics etc, but if you have a rough idea what's going on under the hood, you'll probably end up being a better driver.

And +1 for the Head First Servlets book. It's a bit out of date now, but it's a great introduction to the topic and covers a good range of material to get you started.